Koltnow: Closing an O.C. freeway for great cinema

What kind of a world do we live in when a freeway can be closed in the name of "art" called "The Hangover 3"? WARNER BROS.

Many people believe that the news story was blown out of proportion by the media. I was not among them. If anything, I think the story was underplayed.

The news was that an Orange County freeway was going to close for a weekend to allow filming of "The Hangover 3."

Frankly, I didn't care about the freeway closure. I was more upset that they're making a third "Hangover" movie.

I didn't believe that "The Hangover" was two-worthy, let alone three-worthy.

Yes, I realize that movie sequels are more about commerce than art, but even an artless commercial movie should be deemed worthy before a number is put in its title.

For instance, on Nov. 16, "Twilight 5" will open in theaters, and a brief, but spectacular chapter in cinematic history will close. Oh, I know it goes by a more pretentious name – "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" – but everybody knows it's "Twilight 5."

The "Twilight" movies are certainly number-worthy. They have literary source material, actual scripts and pretty respectable acting, considering it's about vampires and werewolves.

"The Hangover" was inspired by a case of acid indigestion.

OK, that's my last "Hangover" joke of the day. We've been through this before. I trash the franchise, and "Hangover" fans trash me. But even die-hard fans of the first movie will have to admit that the sequel was horrible, and there is no reason to believe that the next sequel will be any better.

Once in a while, a third movie is better than a second. "Ocean's 13" comes to mind. But there was a pretty impressive pedigree on that franchise, and Clooney, Pitt and Soderburgh were embarrassed publicly by "Ocean's 12." They admitted that they phoned in that sequel, and wanted desperately to make it up to moviegoers. Of course, no one offered to refund money for "Ocean's 12," but that's another discussion for another day.

I would be willing to bet that the people behind "The Hangover" don't care that you wasted your money on their sequel. They'll keep closing freeways in the pursuit of bad filmmaking.

Don't confuse this with my usual rant against sequels. I'm feeling generous this week. There is something positive to be said for sequels. "The Godfather, Part II" said a great deal about sequels. But "The Godfather, Part III" proved not to be number-worthy, but let's call that an aberration and try to forget it.

The "Harry Potter" franchise was certainly number-worthy, but the "Police Academy" movies were not. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies were number-worthy, but "The Matrix" movies were not.

It is obvious that you can't always tell what will be number-worthy, although I'd willing to make a prediction on the third "Hangover."

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